Chocolate Connoisseur’s Chocolate Açaí Power Smoothie
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
With so many incredible chocolate makers and chocolatiers offering up often ridiculously delicious recipes to our readers each month, we rarely tread into that territory ourselves here at Chocolate Connoisseur Magazine. It’s our job to bring you the best each month, not always create it ourselves.
This time of year, however, we always like to find one issue to appropriately squeeze in one recipe in the area we do spend a lot of time honing, and that’s healthy chocolate eating. For 2020, January is the winner, and it’s a perfect time for anyone fighting to stick to a New Year’s resolution, or to reboot one as February turns the first page of a new decade.
Truth be told, I rarely ever look at the calendar’s flip to a new year when focusing on health, and it’s a great practice for any of us to follow. Our health should always be a number one priority, and this issue’s recipe is probably the healthiest we’ve ever published. And yes, once you tweak it to your own taste’s perfection, you’ll find it is unbelievably delicious and energizing as well.
So let’s dive into a Chocolate Connoisseur original — our own Chocolate Açaí Power Smoothie!
Chocolate Açaí Power Smoothie
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup of frozen organic chopped spinach
- 1/2 cup frozen organic berry blend (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries)
- 6-10 frozen organic cranberries
- 1 Organic açaí puree packet (Sambazon, Trader Joe’s, etc.)
NOTE: use plain variety, should contain close to 0 sugars - 1/2 square inch of ginger root
- 1.5 scoops of Orgain Organic Protein Powder (vanilla flavor preferably, but chocolate fudge works as well if you’d like a very deep chocolate smoothie)
- 1 cup vegan milk (we used 3/4 cup organic unsweetened vanilla coconut milk and 1/4 cup organic unsweetened vanilla soy milk)
- 3/4 to 1oz of your dark chocolate, preferably 70% dark or higher
- 1/2 cup water
- OPTIONAL: Add 3-6 slices of frozen organic sliced bananas
NOTE: With any smoothie, we always recommend experimenting to match your own tastes.
For this recipe, the three biggest “flavor levers” as we like to call them, are the chocolate you choose, the protein powder flavor, and your choice of vegan milks.
Switching to almond, rice, oat, etc. can have a significant effect on flavor. For example, if you find you’re looking for a smoother, slightly sweeter taste, switching to oat milk (but watch the sugar!) can make a big difference.
For one other flavor hack, if you’d like to cut the sweetness a bit, you can swap the spinach out for kale.
Of course, you can also slightly tweak the sweetness at any given time by using more or less water. Just remember, in that case you’re also tweaking the smoothie’s texture, so make sure you’re okay with that end result too.
Click to pick up our favorite protein powder online (paid link)
Click to pick up our favorite Coconut Milk online (paid link)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Make note of your blender type, and, more specifically, blade orientation, before starting. We used a Nutri-Ninja Auto IQ Blender, for which you load an individual blender cup, screw on the blade cap, and then flip over to blend. In contrast, if you’re using a regular blender, you will not be flipping over the pitcher before starting. Make note of this prior to step 2.
2. If you’re using a Nutri-Ninja or similar, for which you’ll flip the blender cup prior to blending, then load all ingredients in the exact order listed above, to create the smoothest, most easily blended smoothie. If you’re using a blending option for which you will not flip the cup/pitcher over prior to blending, then instead load the ingredients noted above in reverse order.
3. Blend all ingredients. If you’re using the Nutri-Ninja, the Auto IQ Ultra Blend setting (1 minute) tends to work nearly perfectly.
4. Garnish with one or two small chocolate squares, a few berries, whatever you’d like.
This recipe makes approximately 2 and 2/3 cups, great for one serving as an outstanding, healthy meal replacement.
Or, share with others in smaller servings to offer a little energy boost anytime!
